First National Bank (FNB) has added cryptocurrency to its existing share trading platform, letting customers buy and sell a curated set of digital coins from their bank accounts, BusinessTech reports. The bank describes it as “secure access to an emerging asset class”.
The coins on offer are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Solana and USDT, a stablecoin (a crypto token pegged to the US dollar). Clients can start trading from as little as R10, with 24/7 access, and the service is delivered in partnership with VALR, an existing South African crypto trading platform. Trades are funded with money already held in FNB accounts.
The catch: crypto cannot leave the platform
FNB says trading is “ringfenced” within its own ecosystem “to ensure security of the platform and a more conservative approach to compliance and exchange control laws”, and that crypto assets cannot be transferred in or out. In practice that means the product is an investment only: customers cannot use it to pay for things or to move crypto to another wallet or across borders.
What FNB says is driving the move
FNB CEO Sizwe Nxedlana said customers will gain “access and exposure to crypto assets” along with “the bank’s investment knowledge and experience”, and that the bank had “listened to client requests for us to provide them with alternative investment solutions”. FNB Wealth and Asset Management CEO Bheki Mkhize said the bank had “observed a lot of activity and interest from our clients around crypto”.
The bank also points to a changing regulatory backdrop: “Regulators are now issuing more licences to respective financial institutions”, a shift it says is partly driven by “the growing recognition and involvement of major fund managers like BlackRock”, while “governments are also slowly implementing clearer tax laws and regulatory frameworks”. These are FNB’s own statements about the market rather than independent findings.
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